have a lunch or have lunch | WordReference Forums

As far as I know, article a/an can not be used before words like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But I have seen sentences like " I passed up a ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. havealunchorhavelunch Threadstarter hsnam Startdate Aug1,2008 H hsnam NewMember Korean Hi,all Myquestionisnotaboutvocabulary,butit'saboutgrammar. AsfarasIknow,articlea/ancannotbeusedbeforewordslikebreakfast,lunch,anddinner. ButIhaveseensentenceslike"Ipassedupalunchwithhimtobehere." Ilookedupadictionary..anditsays"lunch"isbothcountableanduncountable.HowdoIdistinguishthem?? Cananybodyhelphere?Iamnotanative,soIcan'tquiteunderstanditscorrectusagehere.Thanks!   P Pidginboy SeniorMember India-Localdialect Havelunch.Haveanicelunch. "Ipassedupalunchwithhimtobehere"isfine.   G gasman SeniorMember Canada,English Youcertainlywouldn'twanttouse"an"beforebreakfast,lunchordinnerbecausetheydonotstartwithavowel.Icanseenoproblemwithhaving"a"beforethemincontextssuchas"Ihavelaidonalunchfor---",orJohnisorganising"adinnerwhereJimcangiveaspeech".Inotherwords,contextiseverythingwhendistinguishingbetweencountableanduncountablewords.   F Franzi SeniorMember Astoria,NY (SanFrancisco)English Theytendtobecountedinsituationswhereyou'retalkingmoreaboutanappointmentandlessabouttheideaofthemealingeneral. Ieatlunchatnooneveryday. Ihavealunchtogototoday.(It'sa"businesslunch"orsomeotherkindofmeeting/appointmentthatincludeseatinglunch.)   M Mayoide SeniorMember Español Whataboutthiscontext?IsitcorrecttousetheindefinitearticleorshouldIomitit? MybestfriendisPeter.HelivesinLondon.WhenhestaysinLiverpoolIinvitehimtohavealunchandthenwegoonatriptosomenearbyplace.   Myridon SeniorMember Texas English-US Iinvitehimtohavealunch.Iinvitehimtoplananoccasionwhichincludeseatinglunch.(Aparty,aclubmeeting,somethingthatincludesaspeakerand/orotheractivitiesotherthaneating.)TheDallasBookClubishavingalunchonFridaytogiveouttheawardforbestbookoftheyear.It'sactuallyanawardsceremony,butlunchwillbeservedaspartofit. Iinvitehimtoalunch.Iinvitehimtoanoccasionwhichincludeseatinglunch. Iinvitehimtohavelunch.Iinvitehimtoeatwithmeatlunchtime.   M Mayoide SeniorMember Español Thanks!So,Ithinkthatinmycontextitdoesnotwork,becauseIonlymeantohavelunch,itisn'tpartofanything.IwrotealunchbecauseIwantedtosaythatIinvitehimtoONElunchonlyONEday,butIseeithasadifferentmeaning...   elroy Imperfectmod Chicago,IL USEnglish,PalestinianArabicbilingual gasmansaid: "Ihavelaidonalunchfor---" Clicktoexpand... Whatdoesthismean? Myridonsaid: Iinvitehimtohavealunch.Iinvitehimtoplananoccasionwhichincludeseatinglunch. Clicktoexpand... Iwouldsay"planalunch"forthemeaningyoudescribe,not"havealunch."   Myridon SeniorMember Texas English-US elroysaid: Whatdoesthismean? Iwouldsay"planalunch"forthemeaningyoudescribe,not"havealunch." Clicktoexpand... I'minterpreting"Iinvitehimtohavealunch."as"Iinvitehimtobethehostofalunch."which,asthehost,heshouldplan.   elroy Imperfectmod Chicago,IL USEnglish,PalestinianArabicbilingual Oh,Isee.Thanks!   HermioneGolightly SeniorMember London BritishEnglish HiMyoide I'mansweringyourquestionswithoutreferencetoanypreviouspostsinthethread.That'sbecausetheyconfuseme!IsupposeyouaretalkingaboutBritishEnglishusage. WhenhestaysinLiverpoolIinvitehimtohavealunchandthenwegoonatriptosomenearbyplace. Clicktoexpand... "Iinvitehimtolunch"meansyouinvitehimtohaveamealwithyou,usuallyunderstoodtomeanatyourexpense.Ifyoudonotwanttopayforhislunch,youshouldusesomedifferentexpression. Nonativespeakerwouldthinkthataninvitationtolunchmeansmorethanonemeal.   P Pepa123 SeniorMember Czech-theCzechRepublic So, a)Ifyouvisitme,I´llcooklunchforyou. b)Ifyouvisitme,I´llcookalunchforyou. c)Ifyouvisitme,I´llcookagreatlunchforyou. Isb)wrongthen?(andtheotherscorrect?) Thanks!   velisarius SeniorMember Greece BritishEnglish(Sussex) Yes. But: Ifyouareusing(b)tomean"Ifyoucometostayatmyhouseforafewdays,I'llcooklunchforyou(oncebutnoteveryday)",thenIsuppose(b)wouldconveythatmeaningforyou.   P Pepa123 SeniorMember Czech-theCzechRepublic velisariussaid: Yes. But: Ifyouareusing(b)tomean"Ifyoucometostayatmyhouseforafewdays,I'llcooklunchforyou(oncebutnoteveryday)",thenIsuppose(b)wouldconveythatmeaningforyou. Clicktoexpand... Thanks!ButwhatifIsimplymeantitasaninvitationforthisafternoon: Ifyouvisitmetoday,I´llcookalunchforyou.=Ifyoucometomyplacetoday,you´llhavesomethingtoeat. Wouldthatwork?   soundshift SeniorMember Derby(centralEngland) English-England Pepa123said: Ifyouvisitmetoday,I´llcookalunchforyou.=Ifyoucometomyplacetoday,you´llhavesomethingtoeat.Wouldthatwork? Clicktoexpand... Well,I'mnotgoingtosayit'sabsolutelyimpossible,butitwouldsoundmuchmorenormalwithouttheindefinitearticle.   KeithBradford SeniorMember Brittany,NWFrance English(MidlandsUK) soundshiftsaid: ...itwouldsoundmuchmorenormalwithouttheindefinitearticle. Clicktoexpand... Iagree.Ifit'susedwithoutanadjective,thenalunch/adinnerusuallymeansaformalmealinhonourofsomespecialpersonorevent.   VicNicSor Banned Russia Russian Anurgentpatientistakentoahospital. Thesurgeon,lookingathiswatch:Igottoworkfast.Igotalunch. HotShots!,film Hello,isthearticleusedherebecauseit'sascheduledeventratherthanjustameal? Thanks.   Lastedited:May16,2019 RM1(SS) SeniorMember Connecticut English-US(Midwest) Yes.   VicNicSor Banned Russia Russian Thankyou.   dayeee NewMember korean [Toavoidduplicatingthrteads,yourquestionhasbeenaddedtoapreviousthreadaboutthedifferencebetween'lunch'and'alunch'DonnyB-moderator] Likearedline Pleasedoicanbeunderstandingthis   Lasteditedbyamoderator:Aug20,2021 Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top